The Bus terminal is located in the heart of Manhattan, one block west of Times Square. It occupies the blocks between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and 40th and 42nd Streets.

During 2000, the terminal handled over 2.3 million bus movements (arrivals and departures) and 58 million passenger trips. On a typical weekday, approximately 7,200 buses and about 200,000 people use the bus terminal. Since its opening in 1950, close to 3 billion passengers have used the facility. The Port Authority Bus Terminal is virtually a city within the City offering a variety of amenities to travelers and the surrounding communities. This "world's busiest bus terminal" serves as the western anchor for the revitalized Times Square area while continues its role as a gateway to New York City.

Buses depart from the terminal to points in New Jersey, New York's Rockland and Orange Counties, upstate New York and Pennsylvania. In addition, the terminal has provided centrally located facilities for direct and connecting bus travel between the New York Metropolitan Area and virtually any point in the continental United States, Canada, Mexico.